I was browsing through the season statistics and discovered a stat that, for the most part, is going unnoticed.
Our beloved kickoff strong leg, Joey Slye, has 20 kickoffs season to date, with 18 touchbacks - or 90% of his kickoffs result in a touchback. The only two this season that were returned were by Boston College, and we all know how that game worked out. Most of his kicks are going out of the back of the endzone. Further, his average distance per kickoff is up 5 yards over what it was in 2014 and 2 yards over last year.
This is largely setting up the defense for success, given the opponents specials teams have had little opportunity to make a return to set the offense up in good field position. With a long field ahead of them for the opponent, Foster can certainly add a little more mystery to his schemes.
Keep on kicking on, Joey.
Comments
via GIPHY
Also, all but one kickoff per game is a result of scoring. So that helps too.
I'm beginning to wonder if we should start playing that old Frank Sinatra song before kickoffs, "I get a kick out of you".
especially the line: "I get no kick, from cocaine"
Yeah, Sinatra was really good in Blazing Saddles!
"What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is going on here? You're s'posed to be laying down track, not prancing around like a buncha Kansas City f****ts!"
Its interesting how this 25 yard line rule is impacting college vs the NFL. In college, even the teams that are known for Special Teams are now actively trying to kick the ball through the end zone and just settling for having the ball on the 25, which has drastically reduced the number of returns overall, which is the goal from the beginning due to the injuries those plays result in. In the NFL, kickers are now lofting kickoffs, aiming to have them land inside the 10 yard line, which is causing a spike in returns.
Good point - I was going to post something about this in the OP. New England has made it public what their kickoff goal is (Kick high in the sky, ball lands on 1 yard line to force return)
Not only New England... San Fran last week did this to Teddy Ginn Jr in a... ugly display of fielding kickoffs
Nothing stat line related, but I gotta say, and I don't remember seeing this in the past, when Slye kicks one for a touchback, I love the kick coverage team running into the end zone and pumping the fans up. You can just see the energy they are generating.
Yep! Agree- love that the players are getting the crowd pumped up like that on the kickoffs! I posted this on another thread> but I wish we could keep track of the touchbacks to date, kind of like we're doing now for the false starts.
How many of VT's KO returns get to the 25 yard line? It seems to me that Stro often catches them on the goalline and gets to the 22.
It's great that Slye is kicking them through the endzone and nullifying the return risk. But I wonder if on KO's, is VT actually starting in worse average position than our opponents? Starting every drive on the 25 yard line for the VT KO return team sounds like a good deal to me.
Couple of years ago we went through this quite extensively
IIRC it was grad students at Harvard did a study of points scored vs starting position. Statistically starting at the 17 yd line is the same as starting at the 25.
The advantage being that with a sure handed guy like Stroman, the risk of something bad happening is small.
The opportunity for a big return is a good incentive to come out with it.
I've always looked at it as us getting the ball between the 20 and 30 as both kickoff and return teams as doing their jobs. Within 20-yard line means kickoff won, past 30 means return team won.
now that is SCIENCE!
I am worried our STer's will get winded running down the field so much with all our scoring... :)
That's a good problem to have
This guy says there will be never be a problem of guys getting winded.
Yes that's the joke
And one of the two that have been returned was the result of a penalty enforced on the kickoff that backed Joey up.
Obviously PED's
The way his left land is, looks like he's about to say "ANOTHER!"
So does that mean Joey Syle should wear 25 next week?
Who?
Kevin* He meant Kevin
We were joking in the stands that a kickoff through the uprights should result in 1 point for the kicking team. He would have been good for at least 2 more points against BC.
Go Canadian!